“You either don’t do it or do your best.” - LIN Suqin
Hualien Markets - Exclusive Interview with Fuqin Seafood Stall
#ChunghwaMarket
#FishMaster
#EitherAtHomeOrAtTheMarket
May 11th, 2020
Text/ LI Shan
Translation/ LIU Yi-Chun
Photography/ LEE Te-Mao
Thirty seven years ago, Lin Suqin was young and passionate. She started to sell fish at the Chunghwa Market after finishing her last accounting job.
She managed through the tough beginning with determination
“I literally started from knowing nothing. For two full years, these ten fingers had never been without injury.” Ms. Suqin took off the gloves and showed her hands. There were several scars that came from being scratched over the years, and there were also marks of stitches that were the result of accidentally cutting the fingers. What made Ms. Suqin choose to devote to a labor-intensive job and persist for so many years? She said at first she simply thought selling fish could make a lot of money, but she realized that was different from her expectation afterwards. However, she was worried that if she gave up right away, other people would despise her, so she forced herself to hold on a bit longer. She didn’t know that she would eventually fall in love with it and no longer wanted to quit. Even though her family used to selling fish, she didn’t know much about it until she started her own business. At the beginning, she run a small stall on her own, and now she was running it with her husband. Ms. Suqin said that her husband’s participation completely changed the way she run the business.
She lives every day seriously together with her husband
Ms. Suqin’s husband Mr. Luo was a famous chef in Hualien who owned a restaurant before. Because he often bought fish from Ms. Suqin at the market, they fell in love and got married. Ms. Suqin jokingly said that she tricked Mr. Luo to join her fish business. Because of his past experience, Mr. Luo understands the needs of the chef, he is mainly responsible for deciding what kinds of fish to sell, and he also teaches the customers how to cook. His thoughtfulness changed the atmosphere of their stall, and let about thirty restaurants become their regular customers. Ms. Suqin is on the other hand in charge of purchasing the fish products. She will drive all the way to Keelung’s fish market two days a week to bring back the fresh fish. On those two days, she has to set off at 6:40 at night, and when she returns to Hualien, it is already 5:30 the next morning. After she loads the fish to the market, she has to start working. She barely has time to rest.
She mentioned that the drastic decline in marine resources is their biggest challenge at the moment. Hualien’s fish catches decreased due to the environmental changes in the past ten years, which made it difficult to find enough fish products for customers in Hualien. That’s why she must purchase fish products from Keelung. However, Ms. Suqin is optimistic and satisfied with their current situation. She believes the important thing is to live every day seriously and be responsive to customers’ needs according to different seasons. Their customers who become their fans will also encourage them. All the love and support from the customers were her motivation to continue doing her job every day.
She specializes at selecting fish products and thinks carefully for the customers
The work of the day always starts at 5 in the morning, from laying ice, laying out the fresh fish, and organizing the stall to be ready for customers to come. When asked about what characteristics are required for doing this job, Ms. Suqin laughed brightly and said as long as you are hard-working and persistent. They usually take care of the stall on their own. However, before holidays or special festivals in Taiwan, they will ask their niece to help them. She has been helping them for six years already. In addition, they also hired a staff to gut and scale the fish for the customers. In fact, this job requires not only being able to withstand long hours of work, but also a certain degree of sensitivity to fish stocks. Ms. Suqin will drive all the way to the fish market in Keelung, which is the biggest fish market in Northern Taiwan, so as to select and purchase a variety of fresh fish for her customers. She must memorize all the details such as which kind of fish does the restaurant need and which is the housewives’ favorite. Ms. Suqin not only brings Hualien people the fresh fish but also surprises on special days. For example, on Mother’s Day, she prepared a bunch of carnations. This year she also prepared specially designed grocery shopping bags for her customers. Ms. Suqin has been doing so for more than ten years. This is her way of repaying the love and support from the customers.
Being a part of Chunghwa Market makes her proud
When the Ministry of Economic Affairs started to execute the "Traditional Markets’ Competitiveness Upgrading Project" since 2012, Ms. Suqin was very supportive and glad to cooperate because she regarded the market as her home and she wanted to make the environment better. In fact, she hoped that the Chunghwa Market could grow together. She started from cleaning the floor, arranging her stall, etc., to change the atmosphere of the market. Other vendors followed her after seeing her doing so and this made her very happy. Last year, Ms. Suqin was chosen as the vice chairman of Chunghwa Market. She hoped to maintain the market’s current quality, so that the market will give the public the impression of high-quality, clean and safe, just like how Fuqin Seafood Stall makes people feel.